Nesting half-logs for toy structures

ABSTRACT

A TOY STRUCTURE AS A LONG CABIN. THE TOY STRUCTURE INCLUDES ELONGATED LOG-SIMULATING BODIES IN THE FORM OF HOLLOW TUBULAR UNITS WHICH AR LONGITUDINALLY SPLIT SO THAT EACH UNIT IS COMPOSED OF A PAIR OF ELONGATED TROUGH-SHAPED MEMBERS COACTING TO FORM THE ELONGATED TUBULAR LOGSIMULATING UNIT. THUS, WHEN THE STRUCTURE IS TAKEN DOWN AND STORED AWAY THE LOG-SIMULATING UNITS CAN BE DISASSEMBLED AND ALL OF THE COMPONENTS WILL FORM HALF-LOGS WHICH CAN BE NESTED WITHIN EACH OTHER TO ENABLE A LARGE NUMBER OF THESE COMPONENTS TO BE STORED IN A SMALL SPACE.

R. G. SCHILLING, JR

NESTING HALF-LOGS FOR TOY STRUCTURES i is H J m we N Wm m .LL KN VL Mm If. A S

Filed Oct. 50, 1969 United States Patent 3,613,292 NESTING HALF-LOGS FOR TOY STRUCTURES Robert G. Schilling, Jr., Flushing, N.Y., assignor to Robert G. Schilling, Flushing, and Andy Connor, Spring Valley, N.Y.

Filed Oct. 30, 1969, Ser. No. 872,566 Int. Cl. A63h 33/08 US. Cl. 4620 7 Claiins ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A toy structure such as a log cabin. The toy structure includes elongated log-simulating bodies in the form of hollow tubular units which are longitudinally split so that each unit is composed of a pair of elongated trough-shaped members coacting to form the elongated tubular logsimulating unit. Thus, when the structure is taken down and stored away the log-simulating units can be disassembled and all of the components will form half-logs which can be nested within each other to enable a large number of these components to be stored in a small space.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to toy structures.

In particular, the present invention relates to toy structures capable of being built up from elongated log-simulating units.

Such units conventionally take the form of solid rods notched in the region of their free ends so that in building up a pair of perpendicular walls of a structure such as a toy cabin, the log-simulating rods which form the walls can be interlocked at their notches.

With such conventional structures, the elongated rods may become undesirably heavy when they are of any substantial length. Moreover, when stored they occupy an undesirably large amount of space. Because of their bulk and weight it is difficult to carry a relatively large number of these rods particularly in the case of a young child. In addition, log-simulating bodies of this type must be finished at the exteriors. All of these factors represent disadvantages of the conventional structures.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide a structure of the above general type which will avoid the above drawbacks.

Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide a structure of the above general type which when taken down and stored away can occupy an extremely small amount of space.

Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a structure of this type which is of extremely light weight so that the units themselves are easy to manipulate and handle and so that a large number of the units can easily be carried about.

Also, it is an object of the invention to provide a structure of this type which will have a smooth exterior surface which does not require any finishing in the nature of a coating of paint or the like.

According to the invention, the toy structure will be made up of a plurality of log-simulating bodies in the form of elongated tubular hollow units each of which is longitudinally split so as to be composed of a pair of components each of which is of a trough-shaped configuration enabling these components to be nested within each other so as to occupy a small amount of space when they are stored.

3,613,292 Patented Oct. 19, I971 ice The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic illustration showing in perspective the type of toy structure which can be built up from the units of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective illustration, partly broken away, showing one of the units of the invention at an enlarged scale as compared to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a transverse section of the structure of FIG. 2 taken along 3-3 of FIG. 2 in the direction of the arrow;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation of a log-simulating unit of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is an end elevation of a pair of components internested in preparation for storing these components.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a toy structure 10 which in the illustrated example is a toy log cabin. This structure 10 has any roof-simulating upper region .12 and may include doors and windows all of which form no part of the present invention so that they are not shown or described in any detail. Two of the walls of the structure 10 are visible in FIG. 1, and these walls 14 and 16 are each composed of a plurality of logsimulating units 18 and 20, respectively. The units 20 may be shorter than the units 18, as shown in the example of FIG. 1, although the relationship between the lengths of the units of the different walls is immaterial to the present invention.

The details of one of the units 18 are illustrated in FIGS. 25. As is particularly apparent from FIGS. 2 and 3, each log-simulating unit 18 is in the form of a hollow tubular body which is longitudinally split so that each unit 18 has a pair of trough-shaped components 20a and 2011 which are in fact identically constructed. In the illustrated example each of these components is of a semicircular cross-section. Thus, when the components are not used they can be nested one within the other, as indicated in FIG. 5.

Each of the trough-shaped components 20a and 20b terminates in a pair of free longitudinal side edges. Thus, FIG. 2 shows the free side edges 22 and 24 of the lower component 20a of FIG. 3, and of course the upper component 12Gb has identical side edges. However, the side edge 22 of component 20b engages the edge 24 of component 20a, and the edge :24 of component 20b engages the edge 22 of component 20a.

As is shown most clearly in FIG. 3, the free side edges 24 are joined by a step to the remainder of the components while the side edges 22 thereof carry releasable fastening means 26 for releasably fastening the components of each unit to each other. In the illustrated example the releasable fastening means 26 takes the form of a springy web 28 formed integral with and projecting in a manner shown most clearly in FIG. 3 from the exterior surface of each component at its free side edge 22. Each of these springy webs 28 extends along each edge 22 to define with the latter a groove for receiving the opposed edge 24 of the coacting component, and this opposed edge 24 is frictionally received in the space between the web 28 and the edge 22 with a force of friction and compression sufficient to maintain the components 20a and 20b reliably assembled together with each other while at the same time enabling them to be easily separated. While this construction of the fastening means 26 is preferred because it can be molded integrally with the plastic material used for the components 20a and 20b,

3 it is possible to provide other fastening devices of different configurations.

Each of the hollow components of each unit 18 is formed adjacent its opposed free ends with a pair of inwardly directed notches 30 shown most clearly in FIG. 4. Thus, by way of these notches it is possible for the units 18 of wall 14 to be interlocked with the units 20 of wall 16 in a Well known manner. As is apparent particularly from FIG. 4, each notch 30 is defined in part by a pair of opposed wall portions 32a and 32!). These wall portions are inclined inwardly toward each other from the exterior toward the interior of each notch 30 which has a flat wall portion interconnecting the inner ends of the inclined wall portions 32a and 32b. Because of this inclination of the walls 32a and 3212 it is possible for the components 20a and 20b to be nested within each other to a greater extent than would be possible if these walls 32a and 32b were not inclined as illustrated in FIG. 4. Thus, without the illustrated inclination of these wall portions 32a and 32b it would still be possible for the components to nest partly within each other because the innermost flat walls 36, one of which is shown at its inner surface in FIG. 2, are situated inwardly beyond the edges 22 and 24. However, because of the inclined walls 32a and 32b it is possible for the components to nest within each other at their notches, thus increasing the extent to which the nesting can be carried out.

In addition, it is to be noted that each unit has a pair of opposed end walls 38 terminating in a free edge 40 so that the free edge 40 of one end wall can butt against the free edge 40 of the corresponding end wall of the coacting component. These end walls 38 are also inclined, in the manner indicated in FIG. 4. Thus, each end wall 38 is inclined oppositely to the adjoining end Wall 3212, and in this way it is possible to provide the several components with end walls while at the same time eliminating any interference in the nesting of the components within each other.

While it is possible to use many different types of material for the structure of the invention, it is preferred to mold the trough-shaped components of the invention from a plastic such as polyethylene with a wall thickness of, for example, 0.0250.032 inch. This molding can take place integrally with the fastening means 26. Moreover, even though the units 18 can be made of a relatively large size, such as a length on the order of four feet and a diameter on the order of six inches, nevertheless they will be of a light weight because of their thin-walled hollow construction. When the components are not used they can easily be nested one within the other in the manner shown in FIG. 5 for the components 20a and 20/). With the structure of the invention it is possible, for example, to stack four components within a height which exceeds by only one inch the height occupied by the lowermost component. It is thus possible to achieve an extremely dense assembly of internested components occupying only a small fraction of the space which would otherwise be required for solid rods forming the log-simulating units. A further advantage of manufacturing the components from a plastic such as polyethylene is that this material does not require any additional finishing, so that a smoothsurfaced structure is assured Without the added expense of finishing the units.

The manner in which the structure is used is believed to be clear. When the components are removed from storage any one of the plurality of identical components is placed with its free edge 24 received in the fastening means at the free edge 22 of a coacting component, and in this way any selected pairs of the components can be combined to form the log-simulating unit such as the units 18. The units 20 will have an identical construction except that, if desired, they may be made shorter.

What is claimed is:

1. For use in a toy structure, a plurality of log-simulating units each of which is in the form of an elongated hollow tubular structure longitudinally split so as to be composed of a pair of trough-shaped components capable of being nested within each other when stored, each component having a pair of opposed longitudinal free edges one of which carries a releasable fastening means for releasably fastening said one edge to the opposite edge of a cooperating component.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein each of said components has a pair of opposed ends and is formed in the region of said ends with a pair of notches extending inwardly from the exterior to the interior of each component, so that when a pair of components are assembled to form the hollow log-simulating unit, units which extend perpendicularly to each other can be interlocked at said notches.

3. The combination of claim 2 and wherein each of said notches is defined in part by a pair of opposed walls of each component tapering inwardly toward each from the exterior toward the interior of each component, to increase the extent to which the components can be nested within each other when stored.

4. The combination of claim 1 and wherein each component terminates in a pair of opposed end walls extending across the hollow interior of each component and having a free inner edge adapted to be located adjacent a corresponding free inner edge of an end wall of a coacting component, the end walls of each component being inclined toward each other and having their greatest distance apart from each other at their free edges so that the inclined end walls of one component can be received between the end walls of the next component when said components are nested.

5. The combination of claim 4 and wherein each component is formed adjacent its end walls with inwardly directed notches facilitating interlocking of the hollow tubular units to form the toy structure.

6. The combination of claim 5 and wherein each notch is defined in part by a pair of opposed walls inclined inwardly toward each other from the exterior toward the interior of each component to increase the extent to which the components can be nested within each other.

7. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said components are made of plastic.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,607,284 8/1952 Fowler 22097 2,635,303 4/1953 Poynter 4620 FOREIGN PATENTS 596,273 1960 Canada.

LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner I. Q. LEVER, In, Assistant Examiner 

